I’m slowly catching up on my journal entries after the last few posts about the Bushmoot. Since I’ve been back, I’ve been trying to put into practice some of the things I’ve learned during the moot as well as reviewing some of the kit I carry.

First on the hit list was my belt. I found it too heavy carrying it around all day. I swapped out the heavy leather sheath for my Frosts Clipper and replaced it with the plastic one. I then made a neck carry out of paracord. I intend to carry it around my neck or in my shoulder bag. There is an option to put the sheath back on the belt if I want. I find it is easier to work with the neck carry. The knife is always there without the need of searching and contorting myself to find it on the belt. After use, it’s straight back in the sheath without the temptation of laying it down somewhere.

All that’s left on the belt now is the leather possibles’ bag in which I carry small essentials: SAK, back up throw away lighter, toilet paper, tinder, sachet of coffee, band aids, streri-strips, antiseptic wipes and a tea bag. The belt loop of the pouch is secured to the belt by a small karabiner so that it hangs below the belt line. This is to stop interference with rucksack hip straps. The Opinel No.8 sits next to the pouch, the ferro rod is on a leather braided key fob, and a karabiner. I’m debating whether to put my wooden kuksa on the belt as well or just leave it in my shoulder bag. I noticed Mors always had his kuksa on him and refused to drink out of anything else. It wasn’t a wooden one though, but a simple yellow folding cup.

My second project was to attend to my Granfors Small Forest Axe (SFA) bought at the moot. As Mors advised, I soaked the head of the axe in coolant for 24 hours. I wasn’t too sure about this, but after seeking advice from the BCUK forum I found this was standard practice for wood treatment. Propylene Glycol serves as a Humectant – a substance that helps retain moisture content and helps stop splitting. I also followed advice by coating the haft with linseed oil. Unfortunately, my wife bought me raw linseed oil and again (not having a clue about these things) I researched about the difference between raw and boiled linseed oil. If you want more info, follow this link. Needless to say, I used the raw oil for the handle, not being in a great hurry for the drying process to finish.

Having found success in ‘tree-dwelling’ with hammock and tarp, I’ve now turned my attention to my ‘ground dwelling’ system. I’ve re-packed my ‘bedroll’ and splashed out on a Thermarest. I’ll write about all this in the next post. Oh yeah…I’ve also ordered a tent!

Keen to try out some new skills, I took advantage of the damp and muddy ground to do some tracking. It was amazing that the tracks just leapt out at me, and I managed to identify badger and fox tracks and even take an educated guess of what they were doing at the time and where they might have gone when the tracks ran out. I’ve bought another tracking book by Preben Bang & Preben Dahlstrom and I’m busy relearning lost skills from a number of years ago when I used to track on a regular basis.

A number of thistles are in bloom at the moment and very noticeable are the red berries of the Cuckoo pint or ‘Lords and Ladies’ (Arum) which are highly poisonous.

More next time and thanks for visiting.